The Oregon State Lottery and SBTech have signed a contract that will see the supplier’s technology used to power the state’s mobile and retail sportsbook offering.
The lottery is targeting a September launch, to coincide with the National Football League (NFL) regular season, initially launching a mobile offering.
This will be followed by retail betting kiosks, which are likely to be in place early in 2020.
“We’re excited about sports betting in general because it allows us to generate additional revenue for state programs without asking players of our current games to play or wager more,” a spokesperson for the Lottery told iGaming Business.
“Leveraging SBTech’s platform and expertise provides us a fast entry into the market, with a great customer experience.”
SBTech emerged as the likely winner of the supply deal in April this year, when it was selected as the preferred bidder by the Lottery Commission’s RFP team, ahead of rival bidders Scientific Games and Playtech.
At the time the RFP team highlighted SBTech’s expertise in product design and offering a high-quality player experience, as well as its ability to meet the Lottery’s deadlines. Furthermore, it added, its solution offered the best value for money, and in the team’s eyes, the best chance of funnelling players away from unlicensed competitors.
“With [SBTech’s] innovative features and capabilities, the OSL can compete with black market operators effectively with a solid go-to-market strategy and positioning itself very well at launch,” the RFP team explained.
Extensive background checks were carried out on the supplier, which saw Oregon State Police travel to SBTech’s offices in Bulgaria to interview key staff, before the deal was finalised.
Should the launch go ahead as planned, it will mark the first time any form of sports wagering has been available in Oregon since the Lottery shut down its Sports Action parlay wagering game in 2007. Plans to relaunch the game are underway.
The state had been granted an exemption from the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) when it was introduced in 1992, as a result of the Sports Action game.
The Lottery, which generated revenue of $1.3bn in its financial year ended June 30, 2018, has suggested that it could raise up to $35.5m from the first full year of mobile wagering.
A further $27m was likely to come from the roll-out of retail betting, with a further $10.3m coming from Sports Action’s relaunch.